GRi in Parliament 15 - 05 - 2002
Parliament commences second meeting
Members indict Parliament over inability to perform
Nitiwol takes seat in Parliament
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 May 2002 - The Third Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana on Tuesday reconvened for its second meeting of the second session of its four year life which ends in 2004.
The 200 members have tabled 202 questions to be answered by Ministers of State. According to the agenda for the meeting, 10 bills including the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill would grace the floor of Parliament while six Legislative Instruments would be considered.
The House, which was short of one seat for some time after the resignation of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, former Member for Bimbilla, is now full. The replacement is Mr Dominic Nitiwol, a 25 years old teacher.
Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker, said he had high hopes for the meeting. He appealed to members to always endeavour to reach consensus on issues and avoid acrimony and mistrust.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 May 2002 - Members of Parliament on Tuesday expressed concern about the inability of Parliament to perform its constitutional functions. They said there were a number of important constitutional obligations to be discharged by Parliament under the 1992 Constitution that were still not being implemented to the letter.
Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC-Hohoe South expressed the first concern in a statement on; "Parliament's unfulfilled constitutional obligations" at the first day of the second meeting of Parliament. He said in most cases Parliament's inability to fulfil its constitutional mandate had been simply due to inaction or deliberate administrative manipulations.
He said Article 187 (15) that mandated Parliament to appoint an auditor to audit the accounts of the Auditor-General had not been fulfilled. The numerous recommendations made on the Public Accounts by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee since 1993 had not been acted upon even though Article 187 (6) of the Constitution made provision for Parliament to appoint one.
Mr Kedem said it was unfortunate that Parliament had not been sensitised enough to take action on Article 29 (8) and 22 which empowered Parliament to enact such laws as were necessary to ensure the enforcement of the provisions on the Rights of the Disabled persons and to enact legislation regulating the property rights of spouses.
Furthermore, he said the most unfortunate lapse was the inability of Parliament to perform its constitutional oversight responsibility over the Executive branch of government.
"It appears Parliament has virtually abandoned this crucial responsibility partly because of over politicisation of issues. Such compromising manner in which Parliament approves annual budgets with no critical examination of the financial policies should be of concern to all."
Mr Kedem said the hurriedly prepared committee reports were not often seriously debated either to the extent that it was possible to approve the estimates of about six ministries on the same day.
He said Parliament had since its inception in 1993 not been able to perform such a vital function of Article 184 (1) which mandated the relevant committees of Parliament to "monitor the foreign exchange receipts and payments or transfers of the Bank of Ghana in and outside Ghana and shall report them to Parliament once in every six months".
Mr Kedem said most members had stood firmly against the way the taxation provision Article 174 (1-3) had been haphazardly implemented because of Parliament's inability to formulate any comprehensive laws on tax exemptions.
He suggested that the Speaker should ask the relevant Parliamentary Committees to examine the statement and advise on what course of action to be taken, adding; "Our Parliament is of age and it needs to wake up to its responsibilities".
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 May 2002 - Mr Dominic Nitiwol, winner of the recent bye-election in Bimbila, was on Tuesday formally inducted into office as a member of the third Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
The Twenty-five year old New Patriotic Party (NPP) member replaced National Democratic Congress' Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who resigned after his appointment as the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS.
Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker, administered the oaths of allegiance to the State and Member of Parliament to Mr Nitiwol. After taking the oaths the House Marshall led Mr Nitiwol, the youngest Member of Parliament, to his seat amidst applause.
He sits at the last roll, just a seat from the main aisle that technically separates the Majority from the Minority in the House. Soon after he took his seat, several members streamed to welcome him while some sat shouting "Small boy! Small boy!"
Mr Ala Adjetey asked him to seek the guidance of older members and respect seniors since "seniority is much appreciated in the House." He described the member's sitting position as "wilderness" saying; "you would find out that there are other people like you in the wilderness." Most backbenchers in the house have complained about their inability to catch the eye of the Speaker due to the sitting arrangement in the chamber.
GRi../
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